Evans fails to advance in 800 free at US trials

OMAHA, Neb. 
Janet Evans finished eighth in her heat of the 800-meter freestyle preliminaries at the U.S. Olympic swimming trials on Saturday, ending the former Olympic champion's comeback at age 40.

Evans completed the 16-lap race in 9 minutes, 1.59 seconds - well behind Jamie Bohunicky, a 21-year-old who touched first in 8:48.42. Evans' time was far off her seed time of 8:46.89. She beat just two other swimmers in her heat.

Evans climbed out of the pool for the last time to cheers from the crowd. She smiled and gave a small wave before disappearing below the deck. She also didn't advance out of the 400 free prelims on Tuesday, when she finished 80th among 113 swimmers.

The queen of distance swimming was a three-time Olympian who won the 800 free at the 1988 and '92 Olympics, and was undefeated in the grueling event for eight years during her stellar career. She retired after the 1996 Games, eventually marrying and having two children.

Anthony Ervin's comeback went much smoother.

The 31-year-old sprinter was the top qualifier in the 50 free nine years after the 2000 Olympic gold medalist retired. He touched in 21.83 seconds to lead 16 men into the evening semifinals.

"Maybe I was lucky," he said. "Hopefully not. Hopefully, I've got two more races like that in me."

Ervin tied Gary Hall Jr. for the gold medal in the chaotic race at the Sydney Games, then retired in 2003 and eventually sold his medal for $17,100 and donated the money to those affected by the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. He returned to training last year, intrigued by what he could accomplish at an older age.

"I did think, `Do I have that in me?' I wanted to believe I did, but I didn't know," Ervin said.

Nathan Adrian, Ervin's training partner at California, was second at 22.06. Cullen Jones, runner-up in the 100 free on Friday, was third at 22.09, tying Jimmy Feigen.

Matt Grevers, the 100 backstroke winner here, was seventh at 22.24, while 2008 Olympian Garrett Weber-Gale was 10th at 22.52. Nick Brunelli, second-oldest to advance at 30, was 12th.